Samsung Display OLED panel wins SGS certificate

SGS certification on Samsung Display's OLED panels / Courtesy of Samsung Display

By Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung Display's OLED smartphone panels with 90 hertz and 120 hertz refresh rates were certified by Swiss-based agency SGS as “seamless” displays, according to the panel maker, Tuesday.

This means the displays possessed the lowest level of blur length and the fastest level of moving picture response time (MPRT) optimal for watching video clips and smartphone games.

According to SGS data presented by Samsung Display, its 90-hertz and 120-hertz smartphone OLEDs each logged image drag length less than 0.9 millimeters or 0.7 millimeters, and MPRT speed of less than 14 milliseconds and 11 milliseconds. These results gave the 90-hertz panel a “Seamless” certification and 120 hertz panel a “Seamless Pro” certification.

SGS, or Societe Generale de Surveillance, is a global inspection, verification, testing and certification company.

Samsung Display said SGS also compared the tested panels with competing panels, with the 90-hertz version demonstrating 1.2 times improved performance in terms of blur length. The company also said the 120 hertz version showed 1.5 times smoother motion than competing panels during its own test, indicating the OLEDs excelled in expressing high-speed moving pictures.

Refresh rate refers to how many times per second a panel reloads image data. At a 120-hertz refresh rate a display can show 120 changes in one second. The higher the number, the clearer and more naturally images can be displayed.

Along with refresh rate, a display's quality hinges on its response time. Since OLED has a faster electron transfer rate and does not require liquid crystal, it can exhibit a faster response time as well as expressing smoother images.

“Due to the fast penetration of 5G, the traffic on video streaming services and game contents is showing exponential growth, and pushes up the demand for smartphone panels with high refresh rates,” Samsung Display Senior Vice President Baek Ji-ho said.

“Based on its fast response time, OLED can display blur-less, clean and smoother images … which will provide a differentiated user experience.”

Along with OLED, Samsung Display has been making a series of investments for its leadership in the display market. In October last year, the company said it will invest 13.1 trillion won for quantum dot display technology by 2025, and is building facilities in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.